Till Lindemann (German pronunciation:[tɪl lɪndɛman]; born 4 January 1963) is a German singer, songwriter, musician, actor, poet, and pyrotechnician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of the German Neue Deutsche Härte band Rammstein. He is noted for his muscular stature, unique stage performances (including the use of pyrotechnics and a specific move known as "The Till Hammer"), and bass voice. He is also known for his lyrics, some of which have caused controversy. Worldwide, Rammstein has sold over 10 million records, with five of their albums receiving platinum status.

Lindemann has been listed among The 50 Greatest Metal Frontmen of All Time by Roadrunner Records. He has appeared in some films in minor roles, and he also has two published books of poetry, one titled Messer (2002) and the other In stillen Nächten (2013). He has presented some of his original poems and scripts to galleries. In 2015, it was announced that Lindemann would start a new project with Peter Tägtgren named Lindemann.

Contents

Lindemann was born in Leipzig (then in East Germany) and grew up in the village of Wendisch-Rambow,[1] the son of children's poet Werner Lindemann and journalist and writer Brigitte Hildegard "Gitta" Lindemann, who worked for Norddeutscher Rundfunk from 1992 until her retirement in 2002.[2] His parents first met at a conference in Bitterfeld in 1959.[3] Lindemann has a younger sister named Saskia.[2][4] At age 11, he went to a sports school at the Empor Rostock Sport Club,[4] and from 1977 to 1980, he attended a boarding school.[4] His parents lived separately for career reasons after 1975, and divorced when Lindemann was still young.[5] Lindemann lived with his father for a short time, but the relationship was unhealthy; in the book Mike Oldfield im Schaukelstuhl, Lindemann's father wrote about his own problems with alcoholism and the difficulties of being a father to a teenage Lindemann.[6]

In 1978, Lindemann participated in the European Junior Swimming Championships in Florence, finishing 11th in the 1500m freestyle and seventh in the 400 m freestyle, swimming a time of 4'17"58; he was shortlisted to go to 1980 Olympics in Moscow.[5] He left the sport due to an injury.[7] According to Lindemann, "I never liked the sport school actually, it was very intense. But as a child you don't object."[1] He later worked as an apprentice carpenter, a gallery technician, a peat cutter, and a basket weaver.[8] His mother dedicated a letter titled Mein Sohn, der Frontmann um Rammstein ("My son, the frontman of Rammstein") to Lindemann in 2009.[9]

Lindemann started to play drums for First Arsch,[10] who released an album titled Saddle Up, and played one song ("Lied von der unruhevollen Jugend") with a punk band called Feeling B (which was the former band of Rammstein members Paul H. Landers, Christoph "Doom" Schneider and Christian "Flake" Lorenz).[10] During his time in Feeling B, he played the bass guitar in the band.[10] In the 1990s, Lindemann began to write lyrics. In 1994, the band entered and won a contest in Berlin that allowed them to record a four track demo professionally. When questioned as to why Rammstein was named after the Ramstein air show disaster,[11] he said he viewed images of the incident on television, and that he and the band mates wanted to make a musical memorial.[12] Lindemann then moved to Berlin. During Rammstein's early years, because of his use of over-the-top pyrotechnics, Lindemann has burned his ears, hair and arms.[13] Band mate Christoph Schneider commented, "Till gets burned all the time, but he likes the pain".[13] An incident in September 1996 caused a section of the band's set to burn, and as a result, Lindemann got his certification in pyrotechnics so the band could perform with pyrotechnics more safely than it had previously.[8][14]

During Rammstein's US tour with Korn in 1998, Till and his band mate Christian "Flake" Lorenz were arrested in Worcester, Massachusetts for lewd conduct performed during their song "Bück Dich", which consisted of Lindemann using a liquid squirting dildo and simulating anal sex on Lorenz.[15] Both Lindemann and Lorenz were released the following day after bail was met.[15] This incident did not stop Lindemann from performing in the same manner for future shows outside the United States, particularly in Australia when they performed at the 2011 Big Day Out,[16] but the United States performances of this song were changed into a sadomasochistic theme that did not feature dildos, although this was not the case for all remaining US shows on the tour. For example, on 18 June 1999, "Bück Dich" was performed in the same controversial manner at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon. In 1999, the band was blamed for the 1999 Columbine massacre, which they denied their music was a factor.[17][18] In November 2002, Lindemann's poetry book Messer was published. It consists of 54 poems compiled by Gert Hof, the author of the book Rammstein and was the band's pyrodesigner for the last seven years.[19] In July 2010, Lindemann, along with Flake, was interviewed by heavy metal anthropologistSam Dunn for the VH1 Classic series Metal Evolution, on the topic of shock rock.[20]

Till Lindemann with a flamethrower during a concert

Till is not a stranger to injury, as he mentioned in Rammstein's early career that he'd gotten burned several times with unprofessionally rigged pyrotechnics.[13] At a performance in Sweden in 2005, he received a knee injury on stage when keyboardist Flake accidentally ran into him while riding a Segway PT.[21] This injury caused several tour dates in Asia to be cancelled.[21] In 2005, five Rammstein albums received platinum awards and the band also received the "World Sales Awards" for over 10 million sold copies worldwide.[22] During the filming of the band's music video for "Ich tu dir weh", Lindemann wanted a light put in his mouth to create a visually stunning effect.[23] Band mate Paul Landers suggested that he use a flesh colored wire and run it along his cheek to shine a light into his mouth from the outside.[23] Lindemann refused, and instead opted to have a surgical incision in his left cheek, so that a light could be fed into his mouth directly, and largely out of sight.[23][24]

There is a specific performance move of Lindemann's, dubbed "The Till Hammer". This move is where he bends his knees, beats one fist off his thigh in a hammering motion while turning his head from side to side. On occasion, Flake has been seen to parody the move onstage. Unlike most frontmen, Lindemann stated in an interview that he does not like being looked at while on stage, and would wear sunglasses to block out views of the audience.[25] The main purpose of the band's signature pyrotechnics has also been stated to actually be a tool in taking the audience's attention away from Lindeman, whilst doubling as a spectacle for the audience. Lindemann also opts to look at the back to the mixing booth, or does hand gestures during guitar solos to distract the audience from looking directly at him. Due to his onstage anxiety, Lindemann usually gets his bandmates to use a rubber dinghy to crowd-surf during shows, as it gets the audience's attention away from the stage for several minutes at a time.[26] In 2011, Roadrunner Records listed Lindemann at number 50 of the 50 greatest metal frontmen of all time.[27] In 2013, Lindemann's second poetry book, In stillen Nächten was published.[28] He commented on the poetry, saying "The vast majority of my poems could have been written a few hundred years earlier."[28]

Two songs from the album Herzeleid were used in David Lynch's 1997 film, Lost Highway.[33] Lindemann has also played minor roles in some films, appearing with his bandmate Christoph Schneider as musicians in the 1999 film Pola X,[34] playing a character named Viktor in the children's comedy film Amundsen der Pinguin (2003), and also appearing as an animal rights activist in the 2004 film Vinzent. Till and the rest of Rammstein also appeared in the 2002 movie xXx (Triple-X starring Vin Diesel) while performing "Feuer frei!"

Lindemann appeared as guest drummer on the album Hea Hoa Hoa Hea Hea Hoa by Feeling B for the song "Lied von der unruhevollen Jugend" which, despite its German title, is sung in Russian. Years later, this track was performed live at a Rammstein gig in St. Petersburg on 19 November 2001, during the Mutter tour.

Lindemann has a powerful stage presence; his vocal range was that of a bass-baritone, or perhaps even lower.[35][36][37] Lindemann has the urge to press his voice with force from below however.[35] He is also well known for his continuous tendency to use the alveolar trill, where he stated in an interview that he sings it out of instinct.[35] His use of rolling his r's however has bought up criticism, where some critics compare this act to Adolf Hitler as he also rolled his r's.[38] However, this trait could be connected to his youth years in Mecklenburg.[39] In 2005, the New York Times commented on Lindemann's voice, saying "He commands a low, powerful bass rarely used in contemporary pop music, untrained but electrifying."[40]

Lindemann's first daughter, Nele, was born in 1985, and it was mentioned in a German interview that he spent seven years as a single father.[10] Lindemann has one grandson through Nele, who is referred to as "Little Fritz".[48] Lindemann has a second daughter with his former wife Anja Köseling, named Marie Louise, who was born in 1993.[49]

In a 2011 interview, Lindemann has stated he still has strong connections to traditions of East Germany.[25] He finds that "de-traditionalisation" is disturbing, and stated there is also no authenticity anymore.[25] In 2014, Lindemann presented two sculptures and his original scripts of poems in his book In Silent Nights in a gallery in Dresden.[50] Lindemann has also written some lyrics in 2014 for German schlager singer-songwriter Roland Kaiser for his album Soul Tracks.[51] Lindemann has stated that he "hates noise", and would often go to a village in the north between Schwerin and Wismar.[48] Among Lindemann's favourite bands are Deep Purple, Alice Cooper and Black Sabbath and singers Marilyn Manson and Chris Isaak.[1] Lindemann is an atheist.[52][53]